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REMARKS OF MR. STANLY, 



(OF NORTH CAROLINA,) 
In Committee of the Whole House of Representatives, on the 25th day of August 1841. 



After Mr. Arnold had concluded, Mr. Stanly commenced by saying: 

The gentleman from Tennessee concludes with expressing his regret that 
his hour has expired before he had said all that he intended to say. 

I am greatly mistaken, sir, if there is another Whig in this House who 
will unite in expressing this regret. For the gentleman has, in my opinion, 
very improperly indulged in expressing in harsh terms his suspicions. 

■I had determined, Mr. Chairman, to avoid making speeches during this 
session. I had resolved not to consume time, while a suffering country was 
calling upon us for relief, from the evils inflicted by the follies and corrupt 
administration of those recently so signally defeated. I regret that I feel 
compelled, from the course of this debate, to- trespass on the time of the 
committee for a few moments. 

Sir, we have had an extraordinary spectacle presented to us during a 
few days past. On the obvious and simple question, whether the Govern- 
ment should pay its debt to the mail contractors — a debt left us by the blun- 
dering of Amos Kendall, not a debt created since the 4th of March last — 
there had sprung up* a party debate of a violent character, much resembling 
the debates which distinguished the last Congress. I had hoped a new 
order of things had taken place. I still hope we shall adhere to rule here- 
after, and avoid a useless waste of time, by discussing all subjects at all 
times. I only follow the bad example of which I complain, to prevent 
misrepresentation of the party to which I belong. I wish to reply to some 
remarks made* by political friends, as I have regarded them — by those who 
had aided during the late election to bear aloft the victorious banner, on 
which was inscribed " Tippecanoe and Tyler too." 

[Some gentleman said, No : no Tyler too."] 

Yes, said Mr. Stanly, those were the words on our banners. I love to 
hear the sound. The motto is hallowed, I hope consecrated, in the memory 
of that glorious army, which, with this sign, marched on to victory. 

After some observations in allusion to the remarks of Mr. Arnold, 
Mr. Stanly proceeded : 

I said, sir, we had witnessed some strange scenes here during the pres- 
ent debate. A colleague of the gentleman from Tennessee, [Mr. Cave 
Johnson,] had indulged himself in a wide range of debate. I have heard, 
Mr. Chairman, that this gentleman aspires to be appointed Postmaster 
General ! Yes, sir, there is such a rumor from the opposition camp, that 
when President Tyler makes an alliance with them, if honest Amos does 
not return, the gentleman expects to be Postmaster General ! And, as if 
preparing himself for the discharge of duties which he will never be called 
on to perform, he has given us a dissertation on franking, and franking 
coon skins ! I regret, sir, the gentleman has put himself to so much un- 
necessary trouble. Should the Cabinet be dissolved, his valuable services 



2 



SJ 



will, I imagine, hardly be required. But I regret, sir, while the member 
from Tennessee [Mr. Cave Johnson] was exhibiting to the House his 
knowledge of post office affairs, he should have forgotten what became him 
as a man, and as a member of Congress. The member referred to the bill 
for the funeral expenses of General Harrison, and seemed to be desirous of 
making capital out of this ! A bill, too, which has not yet been paid. 

In a mobt violent speech of his against Mr. Granger, (said Mr. S.,) he 
has descended to the lowest degree of vile abuse — so low that none but him- 
self, of either party, would stoop to use such language on this floor. The 
hyena alone, the meanest, the worst looking, the most hideous and revolting 
of all the animal creation, preys upon the dead. Yet scarce had the body 
of William Henry Harrison been borne to North Bend, and reached its 
last, its long repose — that repose from which it shall not awake till the 
trumpet shall summon it to that judgment for which, as I believe, its spirit 
is prepared, and from which it shall soar to mingle forever with the fellow- 
ship of the purified spirits on high — than the miserable, the shameful — I 
will abstain from using harsher epithets, however they may be merited — 
the miserable and shameful attempt was conceived to make material for 
party contest out of the appropriation to pay the expenses of his funeral ! 
an attempt from which every human being, with one feeling of humanity 
or honor in his bosom, must have turned with loathing and abhorrence. 
God help the Administration! God help the country ! God deliver us, if 
this is to be one of our heads of Department ! 

Then the gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. Reynolds,] who comes rushing 
here fresh from the salt-licks and from the buffaloes of the prairies — just from 
the company of Pottawotamies, or some other tribe of Indians, (if any of them 
are left there) — and, on the second day of his appearance here, he informs 
us there is to be a dissolution of the Cabinet, and that the gentlemen who 
now honor and adorn the Departments of this Government by presiding 
over them are to "get their walking papers!" Sir, if he had ever known 
those men — if he had ever enjoyed but a single hour with them in private 
company, he would have been the last man to apply to gentlemen of their 
talents and standing, and refined and gentlemanly bearing, language of this 
description. The present Executive Cabinet is composed of the best, the 
highest-minded, and the ablest men since the days of Washinc4ton. Can the 
gentleman suppose that men like these entertain any great horror at the 
thought (to use the gentlemaifs polished phrase) of "getting their walking 
papers ?" — that the calm of private life — where they are most honored, 
because there they are the most thouroughly known — has any horrors for 
them ? No, sir, no. It would be but a happy and welcome release from 
the cares of that official station which, from them, gains more of dignity 
than it confers. Such remarks do not come with a good grace from a gen- 
tleman who has hardly shaken the dust of travel from his clothes, and who, 
though he has scarce placed his foot upon this floor, undertakes to proclaim, 
in advance, that such men as now compose the Council of the President 
are to "get their walking papers." But if it were true — if this Cabinet 
were to be dissolved — what will you gain by it ? Do you want to take 
John Tyler into your treacherous and malignant embraces ? What have 
you to do with a dissolution of the Whig Cabinet ? Do you want some 
fat Receiver's place to be secured ? Or do you wish him to keep in office 
all the abolition office-holders, postmasters, and others, who aided you in 
franking papers and electioneering during the late campaign ? No, gentle- 



men, "lay not that flattering unction to your souls." John Tyler has 
promised to the American People that he will remove all who have en- 
deavored to bring the patronage of the Government in conflict with the 
freedom of elections. When he forgets his promises and neglects his duty, 
in this respect, I am ready to denounce him. He cannot do so consistently 
with his own honor. Why, sir, the gentleman from Illinois has not been 
here long enough to understand that there is not a man here among his 
friends who would take up John Tyler as his candidate at the end of his 
present term. You chuckle and rejoice, and almost burst your sides with 
laughing at the fancied discord in the Whig ranks; but not one man of you 
has had the courage or the grace to say here, in your places, that you will 
support John Tyler as your Presidential candidate, as a reward for his veto 
on the bank bill. None of you will say this, though you can hang around 
the avenues of the palace, fawning upon the President, and volunteering 
advice till he is worn out by your importunities to break with his own 
friends and come into your keeping, and as soon as he does, and you have 
served yourselves of him, you are prepared to tomahawk him the very first 
opportunity. A most extraordinary spectacle it is which we witness from 
day to day. The gentleman does not know the counsels of his own party, 
nor does he understand what he is talking about, when he prophesies so 
confidently the dismissal of the present Cabinet. When the Cabinet and the 
President part, they will part on great principles — they will part like friends 
and like gentlemen, I hope. They are willing to separate when there shall 
exist an irreconcilable difference of opinion on great and important matters. 
When such a case occurs they could not be persuaded to otay. They are 
entirely ready to go whenever the remotest wish shall be expressed. Re- 
tirement has blandishments for men like these, beyond the utmost stretch of 
the Illinois gentleman's mind or conception; ay, charms beyond the profits 
of the fattest Receiver's office — beyond a grant of the richest prairie lands. 

Sir, my friend from Tennessee, [Mr. Arnold]— for I will continue to 
call him so as long as I can, although I confess while I heard his language 
this morning I could scarce recognise him as politically my friend, yet he 
cannot make me ever forget his great and valuable political services to the 
cause — my friend says he is willing to surrender up the President to the 
Locofocos. Surrender him ! how ? and why? Has the President aband- 
oned his Whig principles? Has he shown any disposition on his part to 
leave his connexion with the party which placed him in power? I have 
not yet had evidence strong enough to satisfy me of that. Has he de- 
parted from his good Whig principles ? Has he abandoned the principles 
which he has avowed before the American people ? I have had no evi- 
dence of that yet. True it is, the President is opposed to a large majority 
of his friends, upon the question of the power of Congress to charter such a 
bank as he has refused to approve. But he does not refuse to approve a 
bill incorporating a bank with power to deal in exchanges — such an one 
as he evidently refers to in his veto message. While, therefore, he is 
willing to lay aside prejudices, and give the country the benefits of some 
institution, which will transfer and disburse the public money, and assist 
commerce by regulating exchanges, I will not denounce him because he 
has not approved the bill we sent him. 

The gentleman said, I had no power to read him out of the Whig church. 
Well, sir, I have not. Nor can the gentleman, "no Whig" as he is, read 
John Tvler out of that church. 



[Mr. Arnold. He has read himself out.] 

I have heard or seen no proof of such a thing. I believe he has done 
nothing to make that at all certain. 

[Mr. Arnold. Then you must have faith to move mountains.] 

I have still faith in the man who was elected Vice President by the 
Whig party. I will not believe he can turn traitor to the best interests of 
his country and his party. The gentleman from Tennessee may have seen 
and heard more than I have. My confidence in Mr. Tyler is not destroy- 
ed, merely because he has vetoed a bank bill. 

The gentleman loves the memory of General Harrison. Well, sir, if 
Harrison was, as the gentleman truly says, benevolent, kind-hearted, pat- 
riotic, brave, sincere, should we not remember that John Tyler shared his 
personal esteem ? Are we quite to forget that ? 

[Mr. Arnold here interposed to explain, declaring that no man once 
entertained kinder feelings toward Mr. Tyler than he ; that it filled his 
bosom with unutterable pain to change his opinion of him ; but most cer- 
tain he was that if his venerable and beloved friend, Win. H. Harrison, 
(for he was long his personal and intimate friend,) had lived to witness 
what had recently taken place, his feelings would have undergone a like 
change with Mr. A.'s, and he would have done just the same.] 

Ah ! That is a matter of opinion, and that opinion comes from one who 
says he is " no Whig." 

[Mr. Arnold. It comes from a friend of his country.] 

I do not doubt the gentleman's patriotism or sincerity. 

[Mr. Gentry here reminded Mr. Stanly that Mr. Arnold had not said 
that he was " no Whig," but " no party man."] 

I do not wish to " unwhig" the gentleman from Tennessee. I could 
not if I would, and I would not if I could. He is an older and an abler 
soldier than I am. If I have misquoted his language. I correct it most 
cheerfully. But if he is no party man, he cannot belong to the Whig party. 
How he can be a no-party man, and yet of the Whig party, is an abstrac- 
tion too refined for me. 

I think, Mr. Chairman, we ought to have more respect for the gentle- 
men who composed the Harrisburg convention than thus prematurely to 
denounce President Tyler. Does the gentleman remember that that con- 
vention was composed of men of high character ? I hope to hear from 
them, when the President is guilty of a dereliction of duty. One of them 
is now before me, (Mr. Boardman, of Connecticut ;) he is a gentleman of 
intelligence, and he owes it to his friends and his country to sound the 
alarm when he is satisfied he has been deceived. I have said, I had seen 
some strange things recently ; yes, sir, there are some who received the 
Harrisburg nomination with joy, who have since been fighting with all 
their strength against it ; while others who denounced it with abhorrence, 
are now taking to themselves the credit of victory, and are now its chief 
advocates and defenders. 

Sir, 1 would appeal to the gentleman from Tennessee, as a friend of 
Henry Clay, and ask him if he does not remember that John Tyler went 
to the Harrisburg convention to vote for Henry Clay ? Ought he not, on 
this account, to be judged with a little of that charity which believeth all 
things, endureth all things, and hopeth all things — which thinketh no evil ? 
Ought not every Whig to exercise a little of this charity towards his own 
President ? I am not ready to surrender the President " to the Locofocos." 



No, sir, he could not live in that atmosphere ; he could have no rest in 
that camp. He has no principles in common with those men; they have 
neither part nor lot in his heart. His heart is Whig. I do not myself know 
wherein the President differs in principle from us, except on this bank 
question. It is true that we wanted a bank; and ninety-nine out of a 
hundred of the friends of a bank would have preferred an old-fashioned 
United States Bank. This the President cannot agree to ; but he is will- 
ing, so far as appears, to give us a bank, though it must not be a bank of 
discount. In his veto message he certainly intimates that he can sign a 
bank for deposite and exchange ; and why denounce him in advance, 
when he appears willing, so far as he can do it without a sacrifice of prin- 
ciple, to sacrifice his personal prejudices to the public wish and the general 
prosperity ? Yet he must be denounced in the most unmeasured terms. 
I have heard something, like that which has fallen from the gentleman 
from Tennessee, from another quarter, and heard it with many pangs of 
heart. 

I might here notice the course of the gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. 
Wise,] but I do not now see him in his seat. I will only say he seems 
determined to spare no effort to divide the Whig ranks. Though he has 
talents of a high order, he is always erratic. He is now generally regard- 
ed as no Whig. I rejoice he is so regarded. 1 had rather he should be 
avowedly against us than to make us responsible for his conduct. But I 
wish to say, at this time, to the gentleman, that the army he seeks to rally, 
and at the head of which he seems desirous to place himself, is altogether 
too weak to do harm to the Whig party of this countiy. The gentleman 
might as well shoot arrows at the sun, as attempt with such assailants to 
impair the Whig strength. 

Among others (said Mr. Stanly) who had been conspicuous in their 
efforts at disorganization, I am sorry to count the gentleman from Indiana. 
He told us, but a few days since, that he had " rather die in the Whig- 
ranks than live with the Locofocos." Yet that same gentleman, who 
would so greatly prefer dying with the Whigs, had made a speech here for 
the very purpose, as it would seem, of blowing up the flames of discord 
which should destroy, if possible, the Whig party and all its hopes. Mr. 
S. said he never in his life had heard such an ungracious, unsparing at- 
tack, from one who was ready to die for his political friends. Dying 
(said Mr. S.) is a terrible thing; though we must all come to it. 

" To die, and go we know not where ; 
To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot; 
This sensible warm motion to become 
A kneaded clod : and the delighted spirit 
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside 
In thrilling regions of thick -ribbed ice ; 
To be imprisoned in the viewless winds, 
And blown with restless violence about 
The pendant world :" 

Yet I would rather endure all that (could I indeed have fortitude to en- 
dure such things) not than live with the Locofocos : no — but, than live, and 
be a Whig, and yet endeavor, by an unceasing, never-sleeping, never- 
tiring effort, to separate a great and patriotic party to which I had looked 
myself, and persuaded all others to look, for the only prospect of my coun- 
try's happiness. The gentleman says he has been denounced. But if, 
because we are attacked in some petty newspaper, because our name gets 



6 

into Mrs. Royall's paper — though that is a very good paper, and I am far 
from meaning to say any thing against it, (a laugh) — we are to fly off at a 
tangent, as the gentleman has done, why we shall all very soon be at log- 
gerheads. I have heard no denunciation of the gentleman ; but when a 
man's mind is in that excited, jealous, sensitive state that it seeks denun- 
ciation, it is never at a loss to find it. My friend from Indiana [Mr. Prop- 
fit] has, I admit, done excellent service to the cause in his own State ; he 
has worked hard — though if he ever sat up all night with me franking doc- 
uments, as he says he did, I certainly was not aware of his presence : if 
we ever franked for fifteen minutes together, I do not know it. The gen- 
tleman from Indiana could, no doubt, frank desperately for Tippecanoe, 
and, when engaged in contests of a political character, he contended for a 
time harder than almost any man I ever saw. But he was too restless 
and impatient, too impetuous, to continue an hour at a time. 

The gentleman from Indiana was sometimes as imprudent in his zeal as 
the gentleman near me, [Mr. Botts.] This gentleman, it seems, has 
written a letter, which most improperly has been made public, and which 
some of the cabals in this city are endeavoring to use as evidence that 
the whole Whig party hold the same sentiments as the writer of it. And, 
sir, when I speak of "cabals," I wish it to be understood, I do not neces- 
sarily allude to members of this House — there may be, and probably are, 
fifty cabals in the city, of different sorts. I refer to this letter because sev- 
eral allusions have been made to it on this floor; and the insinuation, too, 
has been made here, that the letter was in accordance with the spirit and 
intentions of the Whig party. I have heard the charge made, and I say 
it is as false as hell. I do not intend to say any thing in defence of the 
gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. Botts;] he needs no defence; he is able to 
manage his own cause. He is ardent and somewhat tempestuous some- 
times, and I could wish he possessed a little more of that Whig mildness 
and gentleness which abound in this neighborhood. 

[Mr. Arnold. Some of yours, I suppose.] 

Yes, I would have him possess a little of that mildness which you and 
I have. 

[Mr. Botts. By what right does the gentleman from North Carolina 
denounce my imprudence in writing a letter, if the letter is, as he says, a 
private one ?] 

I do not denounce the gentleman's letter. I allude to it because refer- 
ence has been made to it here, ana the attempt now is to make the impres- 
sion that the letter expresses the wishes and opinions of the Whig party. 
I only deny that it is an exponent of the views and feelings of the Whig 
party. 

[Mr. Botts here said something not heard by the Reporter.] 

I have not denounced his letter; but I can denounce it, if he wishes : 
and I will and do. Nor have I heard of one solitary Whig, in this House 
or out of it, who did not condemn the whole spirit of the letter. In send- 
ing another bill to the President, no other desire animated the Whig party, 
no other motive influenced them, than the honest and patriotic wish to meet 
his views and give the country the benfits of a bank. The high and irre- 
proachable character of the gentleman who introduced the bill, [Mr. Ser- 
geant,] forbids the suspicion of any other design. The Whigs can prosper 
and prevail only by going on in a united spirit of harmony, as one great 



band of brothers. Tbey must compromise all minor differences of opinion. 
I, as a Whig, will be the last man ever to "head" a Whig President. 

[Mr. Botts again spoke.] 

If the gentleman from Virginia wants me to do so, I will denounce the 
letter; and I repeat what I said, that I have not heard a singie Whig speak 
of it that did not disapprove its spirit and tone. 

I have not much to say further. I have looked with surprise at gentle- 
men who have spoken of the President in terms of contempt, and who 
seem disposed to enlist themselves, without cause, in a design to scatter 
disafteclion and sow the seeds of discord among the members of the Whig 
party. I regret it from the bottom of my heart. Instead of pursuing so 
suicidal a course, let us rather, in a broad and patriotic spirit, unite our- 
selves as a band of brethren. I am ready to fight under President Tyler, 
or any other Whig President, for our common Whig principles. I ask no fa- 
vors from any President. Whenever he departs from Whig principles, I 
am ready to quarrel in that cause. And if so great a calamity is, in the 
wrath of Heaven, to fall upon our country, I am ready to draw the sword 
and to throw away the scabbard. As ihings are, I know no distinction ; I 
will know none, between the party of'- Tippecanoe and Tyler too." We 
are all of one party. As one party, we achieved at the last election the 
greatest, most brilliant, most decided, most triumphant victory which the 
annals of this country can show. We achieved it by union. I desire, for 
one, to preserve it. And it is a vain hope our adversaries entertain, that 
because they may succeed in detaching one here and another there from 
our ranks, they shall separate our party into fragments, or separate the 
President from the friends who gave him, in spite of their utmost efforts, 
his elevation to office. W T hen John Tyler separates from us he falls. 
But, with the same reliance on the aid of a superintending and merciful 
Providence with which I entered into the great Whig contest, trusting 
that He whose shield was thrown around George Washington, and who 
led our fathers through the flood and through the desert into a good 
land, will not now desert us, their children, fighting for the same principles^ 
I am ready to fight under the old Whig banner; and I here invite the gen- 
tleman from Indiana [Mr. Proffit] back again into our ranks, After he 
has done so much with us in the common cause, after he has rendered such 
important service to win us the victory in the great West, I invite him to 
come and aid me, with his stronger and his bolder arm, to lift that banner to 
the breeze. There let it fly over a brave and united host ; and let our ene- 
mies again tremble, as they have once trembled and fled, as they read up- 
on that triumphant flag the well-known legend of " Tippecanoe and Ty- 



ler too." 



NOTE. 



Mr. Boris and Mr. Proffit followed Mr. Stanly ; and Mr. Phofmt was understood by Mr 
S. to deny that he had left the Whig party, and did not understand what Mr. Stanly meant by 
hoping he, Mr. Proffit, would " return.'" Mr. S. explained by saying, some days ago the 
gentleman from Indiana had expressed the hope of seeing me by his side. He had also desired 
that the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wise) would allow him lo share with him the odium of 
belonging to the " corporal's guard ;" that he would be proud to be one of that number. Now, 
said Mr. Stanly, the position the gentleman from Indiana desires, I say no earthly inducement 
could prevail on me to accept. I have said, and repeat, I had better be dead than endeavoring to 
injure my country, by fostering divisions in the Whig ranks. 



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